How the world reacts to Reagan's massive victory

November 6, 1980

By Rushworth M. Kidder reports from London

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who came to office last year on a platform similar to Mr. Reagan's -- promising to strengthen defense and free the market-force economy -- sent a particularly warm message of congratulation. Some observers see her in the vanguard of a worldwide trend toward the right, evident in recent elections in Portugal, Australia, and Jamaica, as well as in the United States.

The government is cautious about a wholehearted public embrace of Mr. Reagan -- preferring to await his choice of appointments. But there is a feeling of considerable satisfaction here that Mrs. Thatcher now has a powerful philosophical ally in her right-wing monetarist battle against inflation and her staunch anti-Sovietism.

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